/ 2017 / Press / Feature Story

Kolkata’s fertilizer factories

  • Photographer
    Cecilia Colussi, United Kingdom

In the outskirts of Kolkata, India, fertilizer factories can be spotted
on the roadside.
Scrap leather is placed by labourers in an oven to be burnt in order
to recover a solid collagenic material containing high nitrogen
levels, which can be employed for the production of nitrogenous
fertilizers used by farmers to boost yields of staples such as rice
and wheat.
The burning of leather trimmings causes harmful smoke and it has
a major negative impact on the health of the people working at the
factories.

Originally from Padova, Italy, Cecilia received two MA’s in economics. After spending a decade working in the banking industry as an auditor, she moved from Italy to UK to pursue her passion in visual arts. She formally trained in photography, graduating in 2014 from Spéos Photographic Institute.

Growing up in the remarkably preserved medieval town of Padova, Cecilia has been breathing art since she was a child, surrounded by a quaint, though static, way of living. Thirsty of knowledge, she soon developed a genuine curiosity for everything that was far from her cultural heritage, devoting her travels to the study of anthropological aspects of diverse cultures with a focus on architecture.

Far from the celebrated landmarks, Cecilia pursues places that were built for purpose but taken over by time. She celebrates the evolved aesthetic of sites once abandoned. She captures these places in the rawness of their surrender to nature.

Cecilia currently lives in London, UK, where she works as freelance photographer.
The constantly changing urban landscape of London is a never ending source of inspiration and study for her.